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Calvin Johnson thought Matthew Stafford was going to spike the ball for at least another snap. The Dallas Cowboys did, too.

Stafford’s one-yard lunge over a pile of linemen with 12 seconds left, and Johnson’s 329 yards receiving, lifted the Detroit Lions to a 31-30 win over Dallas on Sunday.

“I was yelling that I was going to spike the ball,” Stafford recalled, “but their linebackers were just standing there.”

The Cowboys weren’t just standing around letting Johnson make catch after catch, but he made them look helpless.

Johnson almost broke an NFL record, and could celebrate the feat because of a comeback from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit that some people who entered Ford Field didn’t see because they had left.

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“Even our fans didn’t think we could pull this one out,” he said. “They were leaving, but we knew we could do it.”

Johnson’s total trails only the 336 yards receiving Flipper Anderson had for the Los Angeles Rams against New Orleans on Nov. 26, 1989 in a game that went into overtime. Anderson had 296 yards receiving in regulation.

The Cowboys dared Detroit to throw to Johnson with a lot of one-on-one coverage. They usually asked cornerback Brandon Carr to do the improbable by defending him by himself, and sometimes attempted to slow him down with a zone.

“He had his way,” Carr said. “And we couldn’t find a way to keep him from rolling.”

Johnson noticed.

“It was crazy,” he said. “We had a lot of one-on-one coverage today, and we were able to take advantage and hit some deep balls. Matt made some great throws to me.”

The Lions (5-3) overcame four turnovers without forcing a turnover, becoming the first team to do that and win since New England did against Miami in 2007, according to STATS.

CHIEFS 23, BROWNS 17: Alex Smith threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns, and Kansas City held off the scrappy Cleveland late in the fourth quarter to preserve a victory and remain the NFL’s lone undefeated team. The Chiefs (8-0), off to their best start since 2003, built a 20-7 lead late in the first half before the Browns (3-4) made it a game.

PATRIOTS 27, DOLPHINS 17: New England shook off a dismal first half and another mediocre performance by Tom Brady to beat Miami. The Patriots (6-2) outscored the Dolphins (3-4) 17-0 in the third quarter 17-0. Miami lost its fourth straight game. Brady completed 13 of 22 passes for just 116 yards, but threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Dobson with 6:32 gone in the third quarter that began the comeback.

BENGALS 49, JETS 9: Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton threw a career-high five touchdown passes, four of them to Marvin Jones. Dalton’s five touchdown passes gave him 11 in his last three games. He’s the first quarterback to throw for five TDs against the Jets since Dan Marino in 1988. New York (4-4) suffered its most lopsided loss since 2010. Rookie quarterback Geno Smith threw two interceptions that were returned for TDs.

RAIDERS 21, STEELERS 18: Terrelle Pryor ran 93 yards on the first play from scrimmage for the longest touchdown run by a quarterback, and the Raiders won following a bye week for the first time since 2002.

CARDINALS 27, FALCONS 13: Rookie Andre Ellington rushed for 154 yards on 15 carries, including an 80-yard touchdown run, and Arizona intercepted Matt Ryan four times. Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald caught four passes for 48 yards and a touchdown, becoming the youngest player — at 30 years, 57 days — in NFL history to reach 800 career receptions.

49ERS 42, JAGUARS 10: Colin Kaepernick led the way with his arm and with his feet, throwing for one touchdown and running for two more to lead San Francisco over Jacksonville at London’s Wembley Stadium. It was the eighth regular-season NFL game at Wembley.

GIANTS 15, EAGLES 7: Josh Brown kicked a career-high five field goals and Eli Manning played error-free to lead New York. Michael Vick returned for the Eagles (3-5) after missing 2 ½ games with a hamstring injury, but clearly wasn’t healthy and was removed for rookie Matt Barkley late in the second quarter.

PACKERS 44, VIKINGS 31: Aaron Rodgers threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns to lead Green Bay over Minnesota. Vikings QB Christian Ponder struggled again in his return to the starting lineup and the Packers (5-2) scored on every possession until they took a knee to end the game. Cordarrelle Patterson set an NFL record with a 109-yard return on the opening kickoff for the Vikings (1-6).

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